Demon Knights: Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves, Oclair Albert, Dan Green, Marcelo Maiolo, Jared K. Fletcher, Alex Garner

We’re in! Inside Morgaine’s tower. Apparently, all of Camelot-that-was is crammed into the space of the tower, magically. I love how this book always manages to surprise me somehow, like that. This moment, even, really reminds me of Justice League Dark. Wow, can you imagine Paul Cornell writing JLD? I daresay it’d be better than the spectacular job Lemire’s doing currently!

Our heroes still have no clue who’s behind the tower and the strange monster light at the top, but they surmise that’s where they’ll find their foe. On their way, they find the Round Table. This was a really striking image, with some GREAT coloring by Maiolo. I had wondered if the bodies surrounding the table would be the knights of lore, but Xanadu ends up finding one of her sisters, Tui.

This is when things get really interesting. Horsewoman starts to feel her strength leaving her. She talks about, get this, a “force in animals” that she uses to connect with her horses. “The force of blood and meat.” Check it out, she’s talking about the Red…which is currently at war with the Rot in Animal Man. It’s times like this, when we see connections over the CENTURIES that make me want to stand up and scream, “I love DC Comics!” But I don’t because I get strange looks, and my wife slowly shakes her head in shame.

Exoristos and Savage feel it as well, knowing their bodies so well. Exoristos says it feels like death. So, does that mean that Morgaine has a connection to the Rot? If so, I think that’s pretty awesome. What I love about this scene, though, is how Vandal starts fleeing at the realization. I have to say…he is hilarious in this issue. He continues to be my favorite character in this title. 

After they wake up from falling into Morgaine’s trap, she explains her plan to inhabit Merlin’s body and, THANKFULLY, it’s treated as if she wasn’t expecting the Demon Knights to bring Merlin to her to begin with. It explains the light at the top of the tower, meant to draw Merlin to her. But with him dead, that didn’t happen. How excellent is that! I love that it didn’t take the route of convenience.

They get free and fight back, and Arthur ends up doing something noble, and re-knighting Sir Ystin, which was pretty awesome, at the same time. I, again, have to hand it to Neves, Albert, Green, and Maiolo for these last few pages which are drenched in a yellow-green color. It’s never assaulting or annoying to look at, and the light reflections off Arthur and Ystin are really great. Everything looks stunning.

They discover the way to Avalon is closed now, which Etrigan finds a little aggravating, to say the least. We’re left with QUITE a cliffhanger, as the book teases us that we have to wait another whole month to find out what happens, thanks to the Zero Issue. That last page, though, MAN! I can’t get over how awesome the art team on this book is. Etrigan looks fantastic in this entire issue. Very well done.

Demon Knights #12, the verdict: What a great, fun issue. I had such a good time reading it. That’s what I love about this title, is it never fails to lift my spirits or deliver a great story that feels like some awesome amusement park ride. I can’t stop laughing and living within the pages with the characters (plague immunization shots, check). I seriously can’t wait to see what happens next ish, and I’m thankful that I waited this long to read #12, so that the time until #13 isn’t as long as it would have been! HA! I BEAT THE SYSTEM!

(Photo Source: DC Wikia)